


Phantoms

by LunaWolfe



Category: Ghost Adventures (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 03:48:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29253951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunaWolfe/pseuds/LunaWolfe
Summary: This is a GA complicated love fic that I struggled with writing. Sorry in advance if it's shit!
Relationships: Zak Bagans/OFC
Kudos: 3





	Phantoms

The wind bit against her cheeks as she locked her front door and made her way to the Yukon. Zak stood just outside, waiting for her, immediately reaching for her luggage. He gave her a smile and led her to the vehicle.  
“Ready to go?” he asked.  
“I think so,” she replied, twiddling her fingers nervously. Zak eyed her before pulling her by the hand to the back of the SUV.  
“What’s wrong?” he questioned, low enough for the other guys to not hear. Ryder slapped on a fake smile and shook her head.  
“Nothing. I’m ok. We should get going. It’s long trip.”  
“Ryder, what is it? Talk to me,” he demanded, holding her in place firmly.  
Ryder sighed. “I just….I’m not sure where we stand. Ya know, after Edinburgh.” She and Zak had hooked up the morning after their last lock down. Then they got on the plane like nothing had happened, and she hadn’t spoken to him for 5 days. It didn’t help matters that she had been in love with Zak since she was 18. She’d met him at a party and was instantly hooked. Despite their 10 year age gap, he had never made her feel like a child. At least not until Edinburgh.  
The thing about Zak was, he was intense. He was either all in. Or all out. He was never tepid, so for him to just brush the encounter under the rug, was unusual.  
He looked down at the ground, using his toe to move the gravel around. “I should have called. Better yet, I shouldn’t have let us get on that plane until we talked about it. Look, I really enjoyed our time together. And I don’t have any regrets about that night, but I didn’t know how to explain any of that to you at the time. I’d very much like to be with you. Not just in that way, of course. But I’d like to take you on dates. And hold your hand in public. And make you mixed tapes. Or whatever the hell the modern day equivalent of that is. But things are complicated. We work together. We spend a lot of time in stressful situations. And we live a dangerous lifestyle. I don’t want you to get hurt. You’re so young, and you mean so much to me. And I’m sure this is too little, too late, but I wanted you to hear it. You have every right to just tell me to fuck off. But I wanted to be….I don’t know what I would call it. But I want to share things with you. I want us to be close. And I want you to be happy. And maybe I’m not the best person for that job. Hell, I’m sure I’m not. But I’d like to have it anyway. And I’m rambling! I’m sorry! Stop me at any time!”  
Ryder looked up at him, her eyes a little misty, and replied.  
“I want those things too. I know that things are going to be weird for a while. And our age difference is…well, I’m sure it’ll bother some people. But Zak, you make me happy. You make me feel good about myself. And I like who I am when I’m around you. I feel like the real me when I’m with you.”  
Zak beamed, just as Nick blew the horn, making them both jump.  
… 

The abandoned asylum was cold, damp, and smelled of rot and dust. But to Ryder, it was just chock full of adventurous possibilities. They were doing their initial walk through, the current owner leading the tour, and she had a good feeling that they’d get plenty of good evidence that night.  
͠  
“Ok, Rich, lock us in, Dude,” Zak instructed just as the sun goes down. After the customary fist bump and promise to let them out at sunrise, the team makes their way inside. “Aaron, I want you to make your way down to the prison ward alone for a while,” Zak dictated, not looking up. Ryder immediately saw the panic on Aaron’s face. It was no secret that Zak liked to pick on him, but he shouldn’t do it as much as he did.  
“Actually,” Ryder interrupted. “I’d rather go there myself.” Zak looked up sharply.  
“No,” he stated, no preamble.  
“Excuse me?” Ryder demanded, hand going to her hip.  
“You’re not going there by yourself. It’s too dangerous. If you really wanna go, you and I can go together later.”  
“Hell no! If I want to go. I’ll go.” Zak’s nostrils flared.  
“I’m the leader of this team, and I have the final say.” Ryder caught herself about to growl. There were cameras on her, and she didn’t want to show the fans any hostility between them, so she simply turned on her heel and walked toward the prison ward, not bothering with a response.  
…  
“What the fuck?! I told you not to come back here!” Zak exclaimed, following seconds behind. Luckily, there were no cameras this time, so Ryder whipped around, shoving a finger into Zak’s chest.  
“You DO NOT get to tell me what to do! I have been doing this just as long as you have, and I know what the hell I’m doing! And you may be the “team leader”, but you are not the boss. We work together here. And if you’d open your damn eyes, you’d see that Nick and Aaron are getting tired of your reckless, macho bullshit!”  
“I do get to tell you what to do! That’s my job! You’re my responsibility!”  
“Bullshit! I’m a big girl, Zak. And I suggest you figure that out before I walk away. I could work on any team I want, but I stuck with you. Even when we were renting hotel rooms in the middle of nowhere just to capture non-existent footsteps!” With that, Ryder stepped into a nearby X room and slammed the door.  
…  
Ryder stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel loosely under her shoulders and made her way back to the hotel suite. It was a little after 9 a.m., and the team had just gotten settled into their hotel after the lockdown. She and Zak hadn’t spoken 2 words since their fight at the beginning of the investigation. And to be truthful, she was still fuming.  
She’d just gotten settled in under the covers, when someone knocked on the door. Sighing, she stood and made her way over, pulling on the silk chemise she was wearing in an attempt to cover herself decently. She opened the door a crack, and saw Zak standing on the other side, holding roses.  
“I’m sorry,” he greeted. “I know I was wrong. And I feel like shit about it. You’re right. You deserve to be treated as an equal. I just, after Edinborough, I thought I’d lost you. And then you gave me a second chance, and I couldn’t stand the thought of allowing you to get hurt. I meant what I said. I want you to be mine. I want to be yours. But most importantly, there’s no one who I’d rather catch a ghost with than you.”  
Ryder laughed, pulling him in by the front of his shirt, and kissing him harshly. “I believe we started something back in Scotland. Maybe we could pick up there?”


End file.
